At my college, Aikido was a PE 100 class. They would come in a few times a week immediately following wrestling practice. The class was filled with nerds and unathletic students save a few random guys who were in shape. Coach was the typical Aikido guy with full ponytail. Wrestlers could not stand them because if you wanted to come in late and train, you had 40 nerds taking up the mats and you couldnt just interrupt class.
One day we went out and saw the Aikido coach and started shooting the shit with him. My college team had about 7 guys with MMA fights. Instructor told us we should come check it out some day, open door. Well, one day we took him up on the offer.
We go in, he starts showing us a bunch of bullshit techniques we know wont work in a live situation. The guy is a great instructor though from a coaching perspective. We all kind of just go through the class knowing its mostly bullshit. One of my teammates asked if we could go live against students in the class and the instructor laughed and said something like "you know that will end up badly for these guys." At the end of class when everyone left, he told us we could come train whenever we wanted, and that Aikido was more of a hobby and a fun way to stay in shape and view health from a different view point than the guy who lifts weights or puts on running shoes. He said almost all of the moves wont work in a street fight, but training angles and distance will go a long way in avoiding a beat down and give you an advantage if you want to escape or engage. I really thought that made a lot of sense.
One thing I will say - He did introduce me to the mechanics of exactly how wristlocks work. I implemented a certain kind of wristlock on my 2 on 1 series in wrestling/BJJ that always illicits a reaction that gives me an opportunity to attack.